All My Fancy Painted
by PalisDelon
Summary: Hatter finds a letter that prompts his journey through the mirror.


With one quick instruction of, remember to breath", she was gone. Hatter watched the mirror for a moment, as if she might suddenly step back through, before turning around and walking out to revolving door.

The trip back to the tea shop happened on auto pilot; it was the crunch of glass that brought Hatter back to himself. "Oh..." He let out a long sigh, "This is going to take some work."

He carefully made his way over to the, now empty, wardrobe and hung up the velvet coat – Alice's coat.

Hatter chest grew heavier as he surveyed the room. "Oi!" he rushed over to his desk and gently picked up a battered top hat.

The hat was made of sage colored felt with a dark green silk band and a brim that rolled up slightly at the edge. He had been just nine when it had been willed to him by his great Uncle Reginald.

Uncle Reg was one-hundred and twenty-seven when he died, but that didn't really count. Uncle Reg had once cheated Time at cards, which is something you really shouldn't do. The consequence of which, Uncle Reg had been stuck at six o'clock for just over thirty years.

Hatter looked at the dirt sprinkled along the side of the hat. Philistines, he thought. He softly blew at the dirt, but stopped quickly when something went thud.

Looking down he was surprised to see a small packet of yellowing paper tied with a black ribbon. Hatter sat down at the desk and just looked at the for a moment, had that been in the hat all these years?

With a soft tug the bow on the ribbon came undone, then Hatter gently unfolded the top letter.

_She's all my fancy painted him_  
_(I make no idle boast);_  
_If he or you had lost a limb,_  
_Which would have suffered most?_

_They told me you had been to her,_  
_And mentioned me to him:_  
_She gave me a good character,_  
_But said I could not swim._

It was total drivel. Hatter set the paper back on the desk and was folding it when an odd shimmering caught his eye. Picking the paper back up, this time holding it over his head and slowly turning it to the light, Hatter saw the words change.

_She's all my fancy painted her,_  
_she's lovely, she's divine,_  
_But her heart it is another's,_  
_she never can be mine._  
_Yet loved I as man never loved,_  
_a love without decay,_  
_Oh, my heart, my heart is breaking_  
_for the love of Alice Gray._

This was... No, it was impossible. Okay, yes Uncle Reg had met Alice of Legend, he had heard the story many times as a lad. But there was no way that this poem was about her.

_Her golden* hair is braided_  
_o'er a brow of spotless white,_  
_Her soft blue eye now languishes,_  
_now flashes with delight;_  
_Her hair is braided not for me,_  
_the eye is turned away,_  
_Yet my heart, my heart is breaking_  
_for the love of Alice Gray._

_I've sunk beneath the summer's sun,_  
_and trembled in the blast._  
_But my pilgrimage is nearly done,_  
_the weary conflict's past;_  
_And when the green sod wraps my grave,_  
_may pity haply say,_  
_Oh, his heart, his heart is broken_  
_for the love of Alice Gray!_

Hatter slowly put the poem down and reached for the next paper in the bunch. It began, _Dear Alice..._

_It has been less then an hour since we spoke at the looking glass, but there were things that I could not_  
_say to you then that I must say somehow. You looked so lovely in your wedding dress. I do hope that_  
_your Mr. Gray understands what a great prize he has won in you._

_If you were to read the above I'm quite sure you would laugh. But Mr. Hatter, you might say, why could_  
_you not give me a simple complement when you have given me so many before?_

_It is not the complement that stumbled me, but the sentiment behind it. For if I started by tell you how_  
_lovely you looked I would surely finish by telling you how ardently I love you._

_Ah, there it is, my dear girl. The one secret I have manged to keep. I love you._

_I have kept this to myself for a vast list of reasons: our diverse upbringings, the differences in our worlds,_  
_my strange quarrel with Time. But if I am to be honest, the largest reason for my secrecy is due to_  
_cowardice. I was simply too scared of hearing you say that you didn't return my feelings._

_I know we shan't speak again. You have a new adventure to face, one that I won't be able to help you_  
_with. I wish you well on it._

_Yours forever,_  
_Reginald M. Hatter_

Hatter was stunned. Uncle Reg had not only met the Legendary Alice, but had really known her, had loved her.

_I was simply too scared of hearing you say that you didn't return my feelings._

The line from the letter rang louder and louder in his head. Hatter jumped to his feet and ran out the door. Uncle Reg had may have been too scared to confess his feelings, but he'd be damned if he let history repeat itself.

* * *

**Alice Gray **by _William Mee, _parody by_ Lewis Carroll_

*Mr. Mee wrote of dark brown hair, but Alice of Legend had yellow so I made the change.


End file.
